1. Field of the Invention
One aspect of the invention relates to hydrophobic surfaces and the creation of hydrophobic surfaces via the build-up of a nanoparticle surface layer on a substrate. Another aspect of the invention relates to the synthesis and/or modification of nanoparticles.
2. Background of the Invention
Surfaces that are water repellent have a wide variety of uses. Examples include antennas, submarine hulls, metal refining, and stain-resistant textiles. Accordingly, the art has seen various attempts to create water repellent surfaces, for instance via chemical modification of the surfaces with fluorine compounds. However, the fluorination process is usually expensive, cumbersome, environmentally unfriendly, and/or poses health concerns. Furthermore, attempts to improve hydrophobicity of a solid surface via control of its geometrical roughness often involve photolithography and/or plasma deposition and have generally been found very expensive in practice.
Attempts to create water repellent surfaces are mentioned in, e.g., Coulson et al., J. Phys. Chem. B. 104, p. 8836 et seq. (2000); Chen et al., Langmuir 15, p. 3395 et seq. (1999); and Erbil et al., Science 299, p. 1377 et seq. (2003).
Nanoparticles are discussed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,050, which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.